NEWS
BBC: AN ENTIRE WHISKY DISTILLERY SHIPPED FROM SCOTLAND TO INNER MONGOLIA IN CHINA
By Tony Zhu
19-7-2021
Source: Valentine International
An entire whisky distillery is being shipped out from Scotland to China last Friday, according to a report by UK’s national broadcaster the BBC.
It is reported that more than 35 tonnes of equipment, including stills, flooring, control valves and pipework, left Buckie in Moray for the port of Tianjin in northeastern China.
It is believed that the equipment will be assembled at a facility being built in the city of Erdos in Inner Mongolia.
The shipment is part of a £3million (USD2.2 million) “design and build” deal signed between Forfar firm Valentine International and China's Mengtai Group in 2019.
The facility will become Inner Mongolia's first whisky distillery when it opens, which is scheduled at the end of this year.
All of the distillery equipment was built by Rothes-based firm Forsyths, which is sending a team of five engineers to supervise assembly.
Forsyths also has a team in Hong Kong to provide after-sales back-up and services.
The BBC quoted Valentine International chairman and managing director David Valentine as saying that the project was the brainchild of Mengtai chairman Ao Fengting, who planned to create a "globally award-winning whisky”.
Mr Valentine, who specialises in establishing commercial ventures in China, told the BBC: "Scotland is the home of whisky and has the greatest expertise in terms of distillery equipment manufacture, which is why Mr Ao believes we will deliver a world-beating project for him in Erdos."
Mengtai is one of Inner Mongolia's largest private firms, its core businesses include coal production and electricity generation. The whisky distillery is Mengtai's first venture into the world of whisky.
In a separate development, Valentine International has signed a "strategic agreement" with Mengtai to supply bulk whiskies for China.
Mr Valentine declined to name the whisky distiller in that deal but said it was a "long-established" firm.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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